HOLA MAHALLA or simply Hola, a Sikh festival, takes place on the first of the lunar month of Chef which usually falls in March. This follows the Hindu festival of Holi. The name Hola is the masculine form of the feminine sounding Holi. Mahalla, derived from the

DAYA SINGH, BHAI (1661-1708), one of the Panj Piare or the Five Beloved celebrated in the Sikh tradition, was the son of Bhai Suddha, a Sobti Khatri of Lahore, and Mai Diali. His original name was Daya Ram. Bhai Suddha was a devout Sikh of Guru Tegh Bahadur and

KESARI CHAND, Raja of Jasvan, a tiny hill state situated in the foothills of the Sivaliks. Besides being a close relation, he was a confidant and ally of Raja Bhim Chand of Kahlur, who once deputed him to Anandpur to seek from Guru Gobind Singh the loan of an

ZORAWAR SINGH PAUT (d. 1708), generally known as Guru Gobind Singh\'s adopted son, was born to Bhai Natthu, a carpenter of Bassi Pathanan, near Sirhind. His mother, Mai Bhikkhi, served in the Guru`s household at Anandpur, where the boy spent his early childhood, too. He was about the same age

DHARAM SINGH, BHAI (1666-1708), one of the Pan] Piare or the Five Beloved, the forerunners of Khalsa, came of farming stock. He was the son of Bhai Sant Ram and Mai Sabho, of Hastinapur, an ancient town on the right bank of the Ganges, 35 km northeast of Meerut

KIRPA RAM, PANDIT or Kripa Ram (d. 1705), was the son of Bhai Aru Ram, a Sarasvat Brahman of Matan, 65 km east of Srinagar, in Kashmir. Aru Ram had met Guru Har Rai and sought his blessing at the time of the latter`s visit to Kashmir in 1660. In

DAMDAMA SAHIB GURUDWARA, ANANDPUR It is known as Gurdwara Takht Sahib as well. Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib used to perform the functions of Akal Takht Sahib from this place. It was Diwane-i-Khas. It was also the court of Guru Sahib. Here, Guru Sahib used to receive representatives of different States

MADAN SINGH, BHAI (d. 1705), one of the martyrs of Chamkaur (7 December 1705), was, according to local tradition popular in and around Bhagrana in Fatehgarh Sahib district of the Punjab, the son of Bhai Diala, a weaver of that village. Bhai Diala had received instruction from Guru Tegh Bahadur

GOBIND SINGH, GURU (1666-1708), the tenth and the last Guru or Prophet teacher of the Sikh faith, was born Gobind Rai on Poh sudi 7, 1723 Bk/22 December 1666 at Patna, in Bihar. His father, Guru Tegh Bahadur, the Ninth Guru, was then travelling across Bengal and Assam. Returning to

MATA JIT KAUR SAHIB GURUDWARA, ANANDPUR Guru Gobind Singh Sahib\'s first wife Mata Jit Kaur died at Anandpur Sahib on December 5,1700. She was cremated in the outskirts of Chakk-Nanaki in the boundary of the village of Agamgarh. Some one constructed a platform at the site where she had

GULAB RAI and his brother Shyam Singh, sons of Dip Chand, grandsons of Suraj Mall and great grandsons of Guru Hargobind, resided with Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708) at Anandpur. At the time of the evacuation of Anandpur in 1705, the Guru sent them with a letter of introduction to